Health Canada to probe possible link between air pollution and appendicitis

Health Canada is proposing to spend $250,000 to see if vehicle exhaust fumes and other air pollution can cause appendicitis.
The proposed project is based on a study that looked at more than 5,100 otherwise healthy Calgary adults who were hospitalized with appendicitis between April, 1999 and December, 2006.
The study, published last October in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found almost 53 per cent got sick in warmer months, when concentrations of ozone and nitrogen oxide were highest.
In the follow-up study, the experiment will be replicated in Calgary, Toronto, and 13 other cities.
A Health Canada spokesman says the goal is for the federal government to develop air-quality policies based on sound science.